Category: Everyday

everyday life

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Everyday Life

Sophomoric

Sophomores get a bad rap. A lot of people seem to think they’re foolish (no matter what they do), when they know they’re pretty wise. The history of the words ‘sophomore’ and ‘sophomoric’ (which developed from ‘sophomore’) proves that it has always been tough to be a sophomore.

Those words probably come from a combination of the Greek terms ‘sophos’ (which means ‘wise’) and ‘moros’ (which means ‘foolish’). But sophomores can take comfort in the fact that some very impressive words, including ‘philosopher’ and ‘sophisticated,’ are also related to ‘sophos.’

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Everyday Life

Smithereens

Despite its American sound and its common use by the fiery cartoon character Yosemite Sam, ‘smithereens’ did not originate in American slang. Although no one is entirely positive about its precise origins, scholars think it is likely that ‘smithereens’ developed from the Irish Gaelic word ‘smidiriin,’ which means ‘little bits.’ That Irish word is believed to come from an even older term that means ‘fragment.’

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Everyday Life

Sleep Tight

During Colonial times, the beds did not have box springs. Instead, all the feathers and other bed material were suspended by a series of criss-cross ropes tied to the bed frame.
Before the children would go to sleep, the mothers would remind them to ‘sleep tight’, or to tighten the ropes attached to the bed frame, so that the next morning, the ropes would not loosen so much that they would fall through the bed.

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Everyday Life

Schmuck

In German, Schmuck actually means jewelry. Although this word is of Yiddish origin, which is consistent with its English meaning.
It is just interesting that the same word actually means something completely in another language.

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Everyday Legal Life Political

Rule of Thumb

According to ancient law, husbands were allowed to beat their wives with sticks that were no wider than the width of their thumb. Hence, the ‘rule of thumb’.